Mind games for toddlers are a good way to keep these little beings busy while sharpening their intellect. Mind games are usually smart games that activate your child’s brain and improve their cognitive skills. Moreover, these games offer a chance for good bonding between parents and siblings, while creating special childhood memories that last forever.
These games are an interesting way of keeping your toddlers busy and productive. So, what are easy mind games for toddlers that you can try without much effort?
Also, explore Startup Ideas for Kids.
Here are a few suggestions:
Building Blocks: Best Mind Game for Toddlers:
Never underestimate your toddler’s imagination when it comes to building blocks. This is one toy that never gets old, not even when the kids get older.
For toddlers, you have to show them a few times how they can stack up blocks. Parents can also ask them to assort blocks in different colors, shapes, and sizes.
Melissa & Doug Deluxe ABC/123 1-Inch Blocks Set With Storage Pouch (50 pcs):
The Melissa & Doug Deluxe Wooden ABC/123 Blocks Set features 50 traditionally-styled one-inch wooden alphabet blocks that include a collection of pictures, letters, and numbers. It is an exceptional developmental toy and they are excellent for toddlers and preschoolers to develop strong skills including matching, stacking, sorting, and word recognition.
Developmental Areas Enhanced by Building Blocks:
Recognition and sorting of shapes and colors develop recognition skills. Block building instills creativity, spatial awareness, and fine motor skills.
Puzzles: Another Interesting Mind Game:
Puzzles are a very intelligent way to keep your toddler busy. Again, this game is like building blocks that never get old for kids. For ages 2-3, you need simple puzzles with fewer pieces.
Melissa & Doug First Shapes Jumbo Knob Wooden Puzzle:
Melissa & Doug First Shapes Jumbo Knob Wooden Puzzle is Amazon’s Bestseller. EASY-TO-GRASP JUMBO KNOB PUZZLE, The Melissa & Doug First Shapes Jumbo Knob Puzzle is an extra-thick first-shapes-themed puzzle that features bright colors and illustrations of a charming cottage in an oval, circle, rectangle, square, and triangle.
Developmental Areas | Mind Games for Toddlers:
Puzzles help kids develop recognition, memory, and connecting skills. Thus, it develops spatial reasoning. It also develops hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills.
Scavenger Hunt:
Scavenger Hunt is an interesting collective activity that can be performed by many participants at one time. Participants are given a predetermined list (Preschoolers and toddlers are communicated about the desired items, through pictures or signs), to find and collect. This can take many forms, such as a treasure hunt, egg hunt, spotting certain shapes or colors, etc.
Most interestingly, a scavenger hunt can be played both indoors and outdoors, according to your circumstances. Also, Scavenger Hunt can be turned into a treasure hunt, nature hunt, toy hunt, etc.
Melissa & Doug Let’s Explore Indoor/Outdoor Scavenger Hunt Play Set:
Let’s Explore by Melissa & Doug encourages kids to connect with the natural world through imaginative play, and to discover the joy of outdoor adventures that instill curiosity and confidence while inspiring them to say, “Let’s Explore”
Developmental Areas:
The scavenger hunt is a good way to practice problem-solving in a tangible way. It also develops the memory of children and teaches them to search for a specific item by retaining its specifications.
Flash Cards: Perfect Indoor Mind Game for Toddlers:
Flash Card games can be played with toddlers to enhance their memory. It requires matching flashcards; they don’t have to be identical though.
For Example, two cards with fish can be a pair. So, you place all cards in front of your Tod and give them one flashcard to find its pair from the laid-out cards. Another Flash card game can be ‘spotting the difference’, where two identical cards with few differences can be placed in front of the child to detect the differences.
Merka Alphabet Flash Cards for Toddlers 2-4 Years:
Activate early brain development: High-contrast imagery is a powerful learning tool for babies. This set of 50 cards features images silhouetted in black-on-white on one side, and in white-on-black on the opposite side.
Developmental Areas:
Flashcards improve the memory, recognition, and connection-building abilities of your child.
Pretend Games as Mind Games for Toddlers:
Toddlers love to copy their elders. That is probably the reason they always pretend the profession of their parents. Parents can turn this into a new game by telling them about different professions and making them pretend it. This can include dressing up and using toy kits e.g., dentist kit, builder kits, kitchen kits, etc.
Developmental Areas:
Pretend games enhance language skills, social skills, and thinking skills and they also nurture the imagination of a child.
Storytelling:
Kids love stories, no matter what age group they are in. Storytelling can be turned into an interesting mind game for toddlers. This can include reading them books as well.
Help your child choose a book from a given catalog, read out the story to them, try to introduce sounds and actions of the pictures from the book, and ask them questions about the storybook e.g., what is the cow doing, how does it sound, etc?
What Should Danny Do? [Amazon Bestseller Storybook]:
With 9 Stories in 1, the fun never ends! What Should Danny Do? is an innovative, interactive book that empowers kids with the understanding that their choices will shape their days, and ultimately their lives into what they will be. Written in a “Choose Your Own Story” style, the book follows Danny, a Superhero-in-Training, through his day as he encounters choices that kids face on a daily basis. As your children navigate through the different storylines, they will begin to realize that their choices for Danny shaped his day into what it became. And in turn, their choices for themselves will shape their days, and ultimately their lives, into what they will be.
Developmental Areas:
Storytelling helps children learn about the world at large. It opens up their brains to think beyond what they usually see around them. It stimulates imagination, and develops social skills and language skills.
